Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich is the number-one inspirational and motivational classic for individuals who are interested in furthering their lives and reaching their goals by learning from important figures in history. The text read in this audiobook is the original 1937 edition written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by Andrew Carnegie - and while it has often been reproduced, no updated version has ever been able to compete with the original.

The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership

While building the Virgin Group over 40 years, Richard Branson has never shied away from seemingly outlandish challenges that others (including his own colleagues on several occasions) considered sheer lunacy. He has taken on giants like British Airways and won, and monsters like Coca-Cola and lost. Now Branson gives an inside look at his strikingly different swashbuckling style of leadership.

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works

After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure, involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists.

One of the most popular Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called "What It Takes to Be Great." Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field - from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch - are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such problems for decades.

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

Why do only a few people get to say "I love my job?" It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong. Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.

Freakonomics: Revised Edition

Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life, from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing, and whose conclusions turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Thus the new field of study contained in this audiobook: Freakonomics. Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives: how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

Smart Money Smart Kids: Raising the Next Generation to Win with Money

In Smart Money Smart Kids, financial expert and best-selling author Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze equip parents to teach their children how to win with money. Starting with the basics like working, spending, saving, and giving, and moving into more challenging issues like avoiding debt for life, paying cash for college, and battling discontentment, Dave and Rachel present a no-nonsense, common-sense approach for changing your family tree.

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships

What is that magic quality that makes some people instantly loved and respected? Everyone wants to be their friend (or, if single, their lover!) In business, they rise swiftly to the top of the corporate ladder. What is their "Midas touch?"

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

Translated into over 50 languages, The Purpose Driven Life is far more than just a book; it is a guide to a spiritual journey that has transformed millions of lives. Once you take this journey, you’ll never be the same again.

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Ben Horowitz offers essential advice on building and running a startup - practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz’s personal and often humbling experiences.

Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet", it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society - from van Gogh's sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer.

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on 12 years of research, her book argues that vulnerability is not weakness but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Maverick thinker Nassim Nicholas Taleb had an illustrious career on Wall Street before turning his focus to his black swan theory. Not all swans are white, and not all events, no matter what the experts think, are predictable. Taleb shows that black swans, like 9/11, cannot be foreseen and have an immeasurable impact on the world.

Throughout history, there are some events that stand out as so groundbreaking that they completely change life as we know it. The Apollo moon landing of 1969 was one of those events - the invention of the Apple personal computer was another. In this book, John Sculley - former CEO of both Pepsi and Apple - claims we are in an era that is giving birth to numerous groundbreaking events and inventions - moonshots - that will change the way we live and work for generations to come.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

For decades we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F*ck positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is f*cked, and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn't sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is - a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mind-set that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Leadership & Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box

Most personal and organizational problems are the result of a little-known phenomenon called "self-deception". We deceive ourselves into thinking we're doing the right thing for the right reason, but people won't follow a leader whose motives are selfish. The tricky thing is, we don't know that our motivation is flawed. This audiobook explains what self-deception is, how people get trapped in it, how it undermines relationships and organizational achievement, and - most importantly - the surprising way to solve it.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science

In this sharp, masterfully argued book, Dani Rodrik, a leading critic from within, takes a close look at economics to examine when it falls short and when it works, to give a surprisingly upbeat account of the discipline. Drawing on the history of the field and his deep experience as a practitioner, Rodrik argues that economics can be a powerful tool that improves the world - but only when economists abandon universal theories and focus on getting the context right.

Targeted: How Technology Is Revolutionizing Advertising and the Way Companies Reach Consumers

Far from the catchy television spots and sleek magazine spreads are the comparatively modest ads that pop up on websites and in Internet searches. But don't be fooled - online advertising is exploding. Growing at a compound annual rate near 20%, it is now the second-largest advertising channel in the United States. Part history, part guidebook, part prediction for the future, Targeted tells the story of the companies, individuals, and innovations driving this revolution.

The Entitlement Cure: Finding Success in Doing Hard Things the Right Way

Today we live in a culture that says, "My life should be easy and work well for me". This attitude, called entitlement, influences our most important institutions: family, business, church, and government. Its effects are devastating, contributing to relational problems, work ethic issues, and emotional struggles.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist. Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world’s richest man by creating America’s most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.

Publisher's Summary

Forget the old concepts of retirement and a deferred life plan. There is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. For living more and working less, this book is the blueprint.

This expanded edition includes dozens of practical tips and case studies from people who have doubled their income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book. Also included are templates for eliminating email and negotiating with bosses and clients, how to apply lifestyle principles in unpredictable economic times, and the latest tools, tricks, and shortcuts for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either.

This book reminds me of that episode of South Park where the townspeople's underpants keep disappearing. The gang discovers that it's because there are gnomes breaking in to their houses at night to steal their underpants.

When they ask the gnomes WHY it is that they are stealing people's underpants, we find out that it's all part of the gnomes' master plan:

Step 1: Steal UnderpantsStep 2: ????Step 3: PROFIT!!!

Do you see that big question mark in the middle? 4-hour work week reminds me of the gnomes' master plan that somehow they will turn a bunch of underpants into profit.

According to Ferris, step 1 is finding your own "underpants" to invent/patent and or distribute and sell. Step 2 is a big blurry question mark of spending thousands of dollars on advertising for a product you don't even have yet, just to see if people will buy it. Step 3 is where everything magically works out and all of a sudden you are earning PROFIT!!!

Tim Ferriss is clearly a rich white dude in his 20s- or at least he was when he started writing this book. Ambitious, naive, and energetic, he has all the traits necessary for success, and he makes some good points about achievement and success, and having a positive outlook on life. He gets credit for that. For example, his assertion is correct that instead of striving to earn large amounts of money, we should decide what experiences or things we want out of life, and then work backwards from that to decide how much money we need. Also, the automation of income is truly the way to financial independence, and he's right on the money there.

But his stories quickly get weird, even ridiculous. His accounts of tango contests and global sailing are quaint, but he loses credibility very quickly when he advises the reader on how to win a kickboxing contest: basically, he says game the system. And here is where his age shows. While taking advantage of technicalities in order to earn money might be legal and profitable, he misses the point on kickboxing. Isn't the point of learning to kickbox health, competition, discipline, defense? What value is a trophy if you only got it, as he basically did, though his opponents' forfeit? Did he really master kickboxing? Or did he just create the illusion of being better than his opponents? How deep is the joy one gets out of that? There are a number of assertions out there, in fact, that he never did win any national championship.

If the goal is make people think you're successful, Ferriss is on to something. I hear he made his fortune selling a nutritional supplement that was never proven effective scientifically. Legal? Yes. Profitable? Hella. Does that make him trustworthy? Uh...

Ultimately, happy people are those who enjoy the work they do, not people who spend even just four hours a week being miserable so they can sip mai tais the rest of the time. I want to read the book Tim Ferriss writes when he's 60, and has more perspective than he does now. TED should have waited as long to give him talk.

I agree with several other reviewers that this book contains some helpful points, but also contains questionable advice and poor ethics.
There seems to be a newly popular mindset of 'the new rich' (whose majority may happen to consist of immature, self-centered, boastful 20-somethings who have made quick fortunes with ecommerce websites, books & ebooks, affiliate marketing, online advertising, etc) that is very popular with young people who are glad to hear that they too can become millionaires with the least amount of effort possible. The mindset seems to be this: For a person to be free and genuine, he must rewrite the rules and mores of society to his own liking, or at least refuse to acknowledge there are any. The actions that flow from this mindset include: Refusing to accept that success takes hard work, cutting corners whenever possible, justifying any means by the ends, behaving and speaking in ways that have always been considered rude and inappropriate, defining success by income, fame, and 'rock-star' status, using shock-value to attract attention and prove courage and independence, and judging maturity, honesty, respect, self-sacrifice, and patience as worn-out, ridiculous principles that no longer apply to the modern world.
In other words, apparently the goal is to live as long as possible as if we are still immature rebellious teenagers who want instant rewards without any responsibility. Don't get me wrong, I too plan to become financially independent, enjoy free time, travel the world, and do what I am passionate about; but I don't agree that the path and mindset promoted in this book is the only way or the best way to get there.

Not my cup of tea......couldn't even get through listening to it all. In my opinion so much of this doesn't apply to most of us. If I did some of this stuff he talks about in my position my customers and prospects would quickly find someone else to do business with.

What disappointed you about The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)?

I grabbed this book after an interview I saw Mr. Ferriss do with Kevin Rose. I was interested enough to buy it, but I wished I hadn't.

Not to be too critical; there are some good things in the book. Some good encouragement to delegate tasks where you can (but it recommends it to a fault). There are some good 'time saving' techniques like batching of business activities (think email, voicemail, and phone calls). There are many good tips for prioritizing and streamlining much of your workflow. There is encouragement to take risks and make it on your own. All good in and of itself, but that is where the good ends.

The problem I have with this book is: if you choose that you want to be an employee in an organization rather than running your own, and you follow Mr. Ferriss' advice, you are sure to be fired. I seriously doubt that Mr. Ferriss would put up with employees working for him to act on the very things he advises in this book. I don't know any employer who would.

Frankly, I think he comes off as a bit of a jerk who walks over other people to get what he wants, exploiting others (including off-shore workers who work for less than minimum wage), all the while he goes off doing whatever. It is bordering on unethical in numerous places and crosses the line in others.

At one time, I had part ownership in a telco startup and have put in the long hours it takes to build a business from the ground up. I now choose to work for an organization and live a more stable life with my family's security and well-being in mind. If you are looking for a book on better productivity, you may gain some useful suggestions out of this book (which is what I tried to do), however that is not what this book is about.

There are many better books on building your own business. Suggestions:

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

What would have made The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated) better?

Re-format the presentation and flow. The format is not for audible books at all. There are lists of web addresses, phone numbers, article numbers that are frustrating to listen to and useless while driving. The format of information is usually in numbered lists instead of having a useful name for each topic or section.

Would you ever listen to anything by Timothy Ferriss again?

No. He is in a class of his own - doing the least amount possible in life that will support his gluttony. If you have responsibilities, like children to raise, then most of this will not be applicable. None of this is likely to happen to anyone who buys the book. If any of this is possible for you, then you probably don't need the book. Still not convinced? Borrow a copy, don't pay for it.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was excellent. I would hire him to do just about anything else besides read off a list of google search results and phone numbers for 13 hours.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)?

If the information is useful while driving, leave it in. Otherwise, put it on a web site and just refer to it for later reference.

Any additional comments?

The philosophy of this book is more about being as irresponsible as possible than it is about building a legacy that can be passed down. There are some good ideas for simplifying things here and there, but you can get those ideas from reading a free summary of the book.

This updated version is worth the listen even if you have the first edition because it is filled with real life examples of people who went through with the steps in the first book and were successful.

I wish there would've been some people who didn't make it and why. I feel like a lot of people wouldn't have been successful due to family responsibility. There isn't much advice for people who are married and have children. Tim is obviously single at the time of writing and able to focus on things without family responsibility.

This book makes you want to get up and do something...but sometimes reality hits if your spouse isn't going along with your ideas.